


Baseball (prompt #2)

by pinebluffvariant



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4750223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinebluffvariant/pseuds/pinebluffvariant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let me tell you a story. It was almost twenty years ago...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baseball (prompt #2)

“Let me tell you a story. I wasn’t always a total idiot - no, don’t deny it, I’ve heard you talk to people - anyway, my story. It was about twenty years ago. We’d already known each other for almost ten years but for various reasons, nothing had happened between us. Actually let me take that back. So much had happened between us, just not what we both wanted. I knew it, it was so obvious, but we were scared.”

“Scared.”

“Yeah. You didn’t think adults could get scared?”

“Well, everyone's scared these days, I do know it now…”

“I know. Anyway one weekend I… I felt inspired. I’d been in a rut, emotionally, intellectually, professionally… don’t roll your eyes, come on. I haven’t told this story to anyone before.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I woke up one morning and decided that today would be the day. I’d do something, finally. I was very optimistic. I hopped out of bed, brushed my teeth, shaved - I miss that, shaving - and then I got to work. At first I thought she’d like a gift, something nice, so I went to the Pentagon City mall-”

“Pentagon City- the no-go zone? That’s a mall?”

“It was at the time. I walked around like an ass looking at, oh, everything. Jewelry. It was all just wrong. I didn’t even know what she liked. So I went home and tried again. She loved Thai food, so I tried to get a reservation at the best place, but they were closed. I… there were no good movies on. I’d spent so many years doing nothing but working that I didn’t know any good clubs or bars. And I’d already made her watch my entire collection of bad science fiction from the fifties.”

“But you just said you weren’t an idiot.”

“Hey- Do you want me to continue or not?”

“I guess.”

“Thank you. That’s very kind.”

“No, come on, I'm sorry, tell me. What did you end up doing?”

“I taught her to hit a baseball.”

“… okay.”

“I left her a voicemail message saying to come to such and such address. And I went to this batting cage and set up this whole thing with a ball boy and a couple of beers. I even went to this memorabilia store like two hours away and bought her a little kids size Homestead Greys jersey. It matched mine.”

“Did she like it?”

“She never got to wear it. I’d intended to have her put it on and watch me swing and then I’d have her take a turn and we would take turns swinging like that until, I’d hoped, she would laugh and share a drink with me and she might let me kiss her on her doorstep later.”

“But you didn’t give her the jersey?”

“Nothing went according to plan. I was nervous she wouldn’t come. Then she showed up out of nowhere, laughing at my silly caper a little bit. And I saw her and she was the most precious… the most… god- I-”

“Are you okay?”

“… yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Anyway, uh. She came to me and she was so wonderful, I had to hold her. So instead of looking all cool and showing her my moves, I took her into my arms and we swung the bat together. It was so much better than the plan.”

“You snuggled?”

“You… could say that. We played for maybe half an hour until she laughed louder than I’d ever heard her before and shrieked at me that she was tired of being swung around like a ragdoll. And then I… scooped her up and carried her back to my car, and then we went home.”

“But you didn’t live together.”

“And you’re not a little kid anymore, Mr. I'm-Eighteen-Now, so don’t play dumb. Now, put out this fire. We really can't afford to be discovered right now. Let’s go see what your mother is up to in the medical tent.”

“Okay. Oh, hey. Did you ever give her the jersey?”

“Yeah. She used it as pajamas for years.”


End file.
